The journey from Ancient Greece. The annals of time make it clear that, for all of today’s diversity in lyric-based music, the modern lyric’s roots lie beneath the hills and ruins of Ancient Greece. Greek dramatists and poets had been composing to accompanying music for several centuries when, in the 4th century B.C., a new sport emerged: spoken-word contests. Music and poetry have made the journey since, their shared source of creative inspiration and similar mathematically-inclined structures making them like fraternal twins – able to separate in daily life, but yoked from the womb. The following examples demonstrate how poetry informed lyrics and music, with an emphasis on pieces that were either put to song or celebrated song, beginning with the father of the narrative poem, Homer: From Hymn to Earth the Mother of All Homer (7th century B.C.) O universal mother, who dost keep From everlasting thy foundations deep, Eldest of things, Great Earth, I sing of thee! All shapes that have their dwelling in the sea, All things that fly, or on the ground divine Live, move, and there are nourished–these are thine; These from thy wealth thou dost sustain; from thee Fair babes are born, and fruits on every tree Hang ripe and large, revered Divinity! By the early 5th century B.C., choruses began to develop for Greece’s fledgling theater culture. Euripides can be credited as setting the format and positioning for the traditional chorus that evolved into the envoi in Renaissance ballads and the refrain in modern music. Chorus from The Bacchai Euripides (480-406 B.C.) Where is the home for me? O Cyprus, set in the sea, Aphrodite’s home in the soft sea-foam, Would I lend to thee; Where in the wings of the Lovers are furled, And faint the heart of the world! Ay, or to Paphos’ isle, Where the rainless meadows smile With riches rolled from the hundred-fold Mouths of the far-off Nile, Streaming beneath the waves To the roots of the seaward caves!
Posted on: Mon, 17 Jun 2013 04:27:52 +0000
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